Steve Barnes

Name: Steve Barnes

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: Senior

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Music (so long as it's loud and heavy), Singing, Guitar Hero, Baseball

Appearance: If one was to envisage a stereotypical metal fan, Steve would like pretty similar; every aspect of the boy's appearance from head to toe is a dead give-away as to his musical tastes. His hair is messy, rarely washed, and has been allowed to grow down to just below his shoulder blades, and most of his fingers are adorned with intricately designed rings. He almost invariably wears sleeveless shirts, in most every colour imaginable, along with baggy shorts in the summer and baggy trousers in the winter, over a pair of the latest obscure brand of trainers. The only break in this style is the silver crucifix Steve is never seen without, even when sleeping, a memento, keepsake, and symbol of his devout faith.

Naturally speaking, Steve is actually quite unremarkable. He's of above average height at exactly 6 feet tall, and disregarding his rather well-muscled limbs, his build is neither markedly slender nor broad. He weighs in at 160 lbs, mostly due to aforementioned muscle, and the majority of his body is well-developed due to time spent exercising, with little excess body-fat to be seen. His hair is naturally a light brown colour, darkened somewhat due to how little he washes it. Similarly, his eyes are a light hazel-brown hue, and have a natural wideness to them, giving the impression that he's always both alert and interested in what's happening, whether it's true or not. In fact, the only defining feature to Steve's face is a long scar across his right eyebrow, recieved in an accident as a toddler. Beside that, his face too is unremarkable, having a rather angular look to it, but not extremely so. His nose is slightly hooked, his cheekbones low and cheeks a little more gaunt than usual, and his chin is more pointed than most.

Biography: You wouldn't know it to hear him speak, but Steve originally came from Canada, and lived in Toronto for the first four years of his life, before his parents - finding themselves poor and unable to find work - decided to move across the border to Minnesota, to live with relatives in St. Paul and hope for better luck there. As it goes, they found it. Steve's father, Mark, was able to get well-enough paid work as a temp - later administrative assistant - at the offices of a law firm to ensure that his wife Isobel could stay at home to raise their son.

Naturally, the mother and son grew close through Steve's childhood, and it was largely down to Isobel to be responsible for the young boy's education, personal development and faith. As such, he became quite like her, growing up to become gentle and kind, though also outspoken and confident, as well as attending church and developing into a devoted Protestant. By comparison, his relationship with his father wasn't particularly close, and not nearly as close as Steve himself would have liked it to be. What little time they did have to spend together was certainly good, but they simply weren't connected quite the same way.

Throughout his adolescence, Steve remained true to what he'd learned as a boy, showing a remarkable level of compassion for a teenage boy, and along with it, a remarkable tenacity to succeed at the goals he set himself. Though only average in most academia, in the arts and sports, Steve excelled. Of course, non-contact sports were his speciality, and he found himself quite enamoured with baseball in particular. This passion played into his artistic proclivity, the dexterity he developed in drawing and painting served well on the diamond, and the stamina he developed in his sporting endeavours helped him as he learned to sing... if sing is the right term for what Steve did with his voice. For at the age of fourteen, he discovered a band called Haste the Day, and from there forwards, his love of metal just grew, and the kind of vocals he preferred were not the "clean" ones.

Throughout his school life, Steve didn't achieve anything of note academically, though he didn't fail any subjects. More often than not, he barely passed them, but a D is still a pass, and he took pride at least in not recieving a single F. The only reason, when asked, Steve ever produces for this poor performance is that he doesn't have any interest in scholarly subjects, and doesn't enjoy them. Artistically, his results were more impressive; he never managed to pull together a band, nor did he imagine they'd be that well recieved if he had. His success was in his drawing and painting, for he'd spent a lot of his spare time sketching potential album artwork, on those days when he considered finding bandmates an actual possibility. His record for sports was quite laudable too; as mentioned before, he was above average at most sports - with the exception of American Football, which he considered too aggressive take part in - and had a genuine passion for Baseball, to the point making the school's team. Predictably, then, the majority of his friends were fellow sportsmen, though he was fairly popular amongst the art students as well, given his relaxed personality compared to others on sports teams.

Ironically enough, the young man, having been brought up with the belief that he should be tolerant of all people, and that God does not hate non-believers, homosexuals, or anyone else, discovered around about the same time that he was such a person. Shortly after entering puberty, whilst his friends had nothing but girls on their minds and in their conversation, Steve came to realise he didn't share their interest, rather, he shared one major interest with the girls in question - boys. However, with social stigmas still running strong, especially among teenagers, he's kept his sexuality to himself to this day.

All good things must come to an end, however, and Steve's rather idyllic life as a fun-loving, well-liked student was no exception. Nothing happened to him, his 'my body is a temple' mindset kept him fit and healthy, no, the one that suffered directly was Isobel. She was afflicted with ovarian cancer, first spotted by accident, when she'd been seeing a doctor about far less fatal worries, just a few days before Steve's sixteenth birthday. Ordinarily cheery beforehand, the boy became reserved and sullen over the months that followed, not that any could blame him, and regularly spent time visiting his mother in hospital, all the while praying for her every night before he slept. The silver lining, as it were, was the time Mark was allowed to spend off work, which was duly devoted to Isobel and Steve. As a result, the two - bonded by trauma, some may say - became very close, very quickly, sharing their sorrow and helping each other get through it.

In time, the illness ran it's course, and Isobel couldn't be saved. The cross Steve never removes from his neck was hers, given to him to keep a few weeks before her own death. It serves, however, not as a grim reminder, but as a memento of the time he enjoyed with her when she was alive; he still grieves, sometimes, and the ordeal left him considerably more empathetic, but by and large, Steve's mind stayed the same. Going into his Junior, and later Senior, years at Bayview, Steve kept his head high, more determined than ever to make his late mother, and his rediscovered father, proud.

Advantages: Hours of vocal practice and physical exercise have more than paid off for both music and survival related pursuits. Steve has fantastic stamina and excellent breathing control, and his powerful voice could come in handy for a number of reasons. Although not an actual guitarist, the days he's wasted mastering the fiddly controls of Guitar Hero have also bestowed great dexterity upon the young metalhead... albeit at the risk of arthritis later in life, if he survives to suffer it. He also has a remarkable level of determination, provided he has a goal to work towards, and the means aren't objectionable.

Disadvantages: Contrary to both his appearance and his taste in music (at least, as far as stereotypes go), Steve's faith has lead him to abhor violence, and indeed malicious action of pretty much any kind. He's a complete pacifist and only acts against others in self-defence, never agressively. Similarly, his devotion means that, for him at least, a good end can never justify unsavoury means. Finally, unless he should come across some scissors on the island, his absurdly long and messy hair will be quite the hindrance in just about any endeavour.

Designated Number: Male student no. 153

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Designated Weapon: A false mustache kit (Includes six black cardboard handlebar mustaches & six Popsicle sticks)

Conclusion: Well, here's another waste of space. If he won't take the initiative, someone else will, and his appearance may just convince them to use excessive force. This guy would have been doomed even if he had pulled a worthwhile weapon. With what he got, well, B153 may end up nothing more than the punchline of a joke himself.

'The above biography is as written by Chib. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Chib

Kills: None

Killed By: Hayley Kelly

Collected Weapons: False moustache kit (issued)

Allies: None

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: Waking up just in time to see Kris Hartmann shoot Kimberly Nguyen in the shoulder, Steve's first day on the island went from bad to worse, as he went on to fail abysmally at first aid, stupidly walk off and leave behind some possible allies, and finally met a somewhat unstable goth girl in a House of Mirrors. He slept outside the house, amongst a small copse of trees, and woke up to a second day that turned out even worse, as he was brutally and unexpectedly beheaded by Hayley Kelly just after arriving at the Fun Fair.

Post-Game Evaluation: Big surprise, someone overreacts and the big lug doesn't fight back. At least the death was entertaining though, and he did get to end up the punchline of a joke after all, so watch for the second announcement kids!

Memorable Quotes:


 * "We're gonna die, she's just first." - dropping the optimistic facade after seeing Kimberly shot by Kris.
 * "It's cool, don't go axe-crazy, I'm not gonna attack you." - inauspicious last words.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Steve, in chronological order.

V4: 
 * D-Day
 * Mirror Mirror
 * Break Up And Break Down

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Steve Barnes. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Steve will always be a sticking point for me, because of his ridiculous death and because he was actually a good character who deserved better. I actually preferred Steve to Ema even when he was swapped for her, and his death kicked off a few things I was not fond of at all. Steve himself, though, was a pretty good, grounded, reasonable character. I just wish he'd last longer and met his end differently. - MurderWeasel